Turkey Turns Away From The EU And NATO: Aligns With Russia, Iran

Turkey's East-West Carpet Trading

by Burak Bekdil

• In addition, Turkey is in talks with Russia to purchase a second batch of the S-400 system, including coproduction and technology transfer options. If the S-400 system is operated in Turkey, Moscow could find a built-in cyber backdoor to spy on NATO assets.
  
  
• Turkey's Islamist strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said in September that it was unacceptable for Turkey not to have its own nuclear weapons – although Turkey is a signatory to both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
  
  
• In 2016, Erdoğan said that Turkey did not need to join the European Union "at all costs" and could instead become part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security bloc dominated by China, Russia and Central Asian nations
  
  
• Erdoğan thinks that he can forever benefit from the East-West divide by officially belonging to West but more-than-courting the East. He seems to love playing the Russia card to Americans and the America card to Russians. He should be led to understand that he cannot play this carpet trading game forever.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Pictured: Erdoğan meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Sochi, Russia, on November 22, 2017. (Image source: kremlin.ru)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Turkey is in talks with Russia to purchase a second batch of the S-400 system, including co-production and technology transfer options. If the S-400 system is operated in Turkey, Moscow could find a built-in cyber backdoor to spy on NATO assets.
  
  
  Allies seriously need to defend the free world against the threat of ballistic missiles from rogue regimes such as Iran and North Korea. Turkey has a different take here, too. Halkbank, a Turkish government lender, is facing multi-billion dollar U.S. sanctions for evading sanctions on Iran. In addition, Turkey's Islamist strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said in September that it was unacceptable for Turkey not to have its own nuclear weapons – although Turkey is a signatory to both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In 2016, Erdoğan said that Turkey did not need to join the European Union "at all costs" and could instead become part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security bloc dominated by China, Russia and Central Asian nations. In 2018, Erdoğan said that if the U.S. continues to "disrespect" Turkey, Ankara will seek "new friends and allies."